40 YEARS AGO • APRIL 26, 1984

FOREST SERVICE CHOOSES PLAINS

Orville Daniels, Supervisor of the Lolo National Forest, announced the decision not to seek a new lease for office space in Thompson Falls. That decision came after four months of exploring possibilities of how best to operate the combined offices of the Plains-Thompson Falls Ranger district. Last November, the forest service announced that they were reconsidering an earlier decision made to move the district headquarters to Thompson Falls. They felt economics favored the move to Plains which already served as the temporary headquarters for the district office and the main office for the district’s engineering staff.

In making his decision, Daniels stated the Forest Service looked at several issues in their analysis, including overall economic efficiency in managing the district, the availability and cost of suitable space in Thompson Falls, and the history of the Forest Service’s presence in Sanders County.

Daniels said the analysis showed that at this time it is economically advantageous to use the existing government-owned facilities in Plains rather than incur the cost of leasing a new office in Thompson Falls.

The general plan adopted by the Forest Service is to convert the present residence located at the Thompson Falls administrative site (mule pasture) to an office that will house a small staff to serve the public, with summer work crews assigned to that site as well. The official work station of the remaining district staff will be at Plains.

The local employees of the Forest Service were informed at an early meeting Tuesday morning. They were also asked to give their input into how the work center would be put together in Thompson Falls and the time frame for the actual move. The decision came after months of effort by local concerned citizens to persuade the Forest Service to honor their decision announced a year ago to maintain Forest Service headquarters in Thompson Falls.

Local efforts included contacting congressmen, holding public meetings and meeting in person with Regional Forester Tom Coston.

Several arguments had been presented showing that in the long run the move to Plains would be less cost effective than remaining in Thompson Falls due primarily to the abundance of harvestable timber in the Thompson Falls area that is not found on the Plains portion of the district.

Local spokesmen also pointed out that figures used to calculate probable rents for a facility in Thompson Falls were at least 50 percent higher than need be.

Daniels added in making his decision that the Forest Service lease on present facilities in Thompson Falls would expire in February of 1985 and that a decision had to be made in time to move before the lease expired.

SPA COUNCIL ASKS ‘LESS SMOKING’

Monday evening the Hot Springs city council met in regular session.

It was suggested that all people attending the meeting should cut down on their smoking. (Back in the day where you could smoke anywhere.)

30 YEARS AGO • APRIL 14, 1994

STATION EYES EXPANSION

Construction is expected to begin soon for a major expansion of Ron’s Service of Thompson Falls.

Owner Ron Turk said he has been given the green light to construction of a 24-hour, automated gas and diesel service outlet, to be located east of Thompson Falls on property he owns just west of Valley Home and Hardware (now the Dollar General).

Turk said the automatic fueling station will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for diesels and no-lead gasoline. Affiliated with a major refueling system network, the station will be able to handle major credit cards and other charge cards for refueling vehicles.

Turk explained that the project, which has been months in development, will add another service to his business while providing customers with “no hassle” refueling at competitive pricing.